ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the development of tools for non-traditional audio processing. Audio plugins have become the sound-processing hub for the increasingly dominant in-the-box mixing environment. Innovation in plugin design can also be found in the interfaces presented to the user, with developers providing new ways of visualizing and controlling the parameters offered by a particular process. The demand for high-quality emulations is clear, with only one of the plugins named representing an original design, with the Precision Bus Compressor conceived with the specific aim of offering clean gain reduction from a voltage-controlled amplifier style compressor. All of the emulated places and hardware tools have also seen significant development in the look of the plugin, embracing literal re-creations of the hardware visually. Tape processing provides clear examples of manufacturers creating a pick-and-mix approach to plugin design, with users able to combine elements of different emulated units into a single signal path.
